In 1980 our family had grown to 3 kids and I'd not yet donated dollars to the OU Foundation. That year the company at which I was then working introduced a 2 for 1 matching gift program. Lynne and I quickly agreed that we couldn't fail to take advantage, and I wrote my first check to the OU Foundation. I've donated every year since. But I'd not designated any gift to OU athletics. Jim Grobe's resurrection of the football program changed that. By 1996 the autoimmune disease that would eventually take Lynne's life had struck. Climbing stairs was becoming increasingly difficult. And the drugs she was taking to remain alive didn't mix well with prolonged exposure to the sun's rays. So I bought into the Tower Club. After she died, I continued to renew my two seats there.

Now, think of the following:
* Increasing evidence of the damage to brains of too many football-related concussions. (My best friend from age 3 and a high school football teammate suffered several concussions on the gridiron. Today his dementia has worsened such that his wife had to have him placed in a rest home. Cause and effect?)
* The seemingly never-ceasing expansion of conferences.
* The easing of transfer rules.
* The effects of the transfer portals.
* The introduction of NILs.

To me, college football increasingly resembles the NFL which I've not followed for the last 20 or so years. My decades-long zest for college football has diminished significantly. I dropped my Tower Club seats two seasons ago. I've not seen a home game since Frank stepped down.

Oh, last year's division title and bowl victory had me feeling good for the coaching staff and players. But those achievements didn't renew that former zest.

As long as I am breathing and of sound mind, I'll continue supporting my alma mater, just not the football program.

I doubt if that would happen. Marshall spent a lot of money sending non-revenue sports to Texas for games or matches while they were a member of CUSA. I would think the larger conferences would have the money to do it if Marshall did it.

The smaller schools have no real control over what the P5 schools do with their athletic programs. The smaller schools will just have to sit back and see what develops.

The MAC and SBC should weather the storm if their members decide to stay together. It will be interesting to see how the AAC reacts and I think CUSA maybe in serious trouble. With inflation being forcasted for a few more years, college sports at smaller schools may be in trouble.

I have heard that the Big Ten and SEC were waiting for the rights deal in the ACC to expire to then going to war about dividing up Miami, Clemson, North Carolina, and Florida State without the massive exit fees. 20 teams is about as manageable as 18 so it sounds like that was the long term plan with Washington and Oregon going to the Big Ten. Also, trying to force Notre Dame's hand because once they are at 20 there is probably no more room left. The the Big XII took advantage of the media rights deal and talking to Pac 12 schools and were making a play for Washington and Oregon and forced the Big Ten's hand.

I know that Cal and Stanford are talking with the ACC. It seems like if the Big XII is trying to keep up, and if the B10 and SEC aren't done that they wouldn't stop here either. Maybe they don't want to expand so much so fast. They just added teams for 2023. But you'd think that what they need now as a mostly western conference is a major presence in California. Cal and Stanford are not in the lower end of existing power 5 conferences in TV viewership, are in a really large market in a huge state, and Stanford if the most successful program in non-revenue sports and Cal is probably in the top 5. Someone will eventually want them. The question is what do they do in the mean time.

WSU and OSU on the other hand are going to be stuck in the MWC.

As I said before, Michael Crow (along with who he gave power to in Larry Scott) deserves every ounce of blame on this realignment. Even after getting accepted into the Big 12, the arrogance of Crow and Ray Anderson is astonishing. I would be telling ASU fire those two or go kick rocks.

We need to join with the American for the ultimate G5 conference.

Mid-American Conference.

It's destiny.

Genius.

Ohhhhhhhh!

I have no idea what, if anything, the MAC has going on in their war room as the latest round of conference shuffling goes on. If they have not yet given up on the idea of still having MTSU and WKU join I would be fully supportive of this.

One of my favorite aspects of the MAC is the stability of conference members but I also think that some new blood could be fun.

The new Titans stadium looks pretty amazing and I wouldn't mind seeing the Bobcats play there at some point-although it would be more likely to see the Bengals there.

This is the first time I've seen this idea floated by anybody connected to college sports: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/38457319...

But it's a good one, and schools like Ohio should be putting all of their might behind it. The alternative is being completely shut out, to the point that I think other threads where we're discussing our non-conference schedules in 4 years are completely irrelevant.

That would be a good idea for the MAC. Have the Top 6 MAC football schools in one division and the bottom 6 in the other division. Then take the top 2 of the conference to Detroit. AD's I think like the current divisions for travel purposes.

This is what I'm thinking.

Though realistically, the end state of conference realignment in college football is probably no conferences, and something more akin to the Premier League. The top ~40 teams competing nationally with an expanded playoff at they end.

If you're not part of that group, you should be turning to find a way to become part of it. And promotion/relegation at least provides a path.

It also, for what it's worth, makes European soccer leagues much more interesting. Far more teams play meaningful games.

Yes, but in soccer you can have a true league table because you can play everybody home and away.

That's too many games for football, so the playoff is an obvious solution.

Today it was released that the Big 12 and ESPN enticed Colorado to leave the PAC 12 with a signing bonus.

ESPN had originally offered the P12 $30 million to stay together and some P12 presidents were informed by their "advisors" that the number was too low. P12 goes back to ESPN and says they want $50. ESPN cuts off all contact.

And then they turn around and do that.

Just incredible stuff.